We are deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic news of Wayne Lotter’s murder on Wednesday evening. We offer our condolences to his family and friends. Wayne Lotter’s work was vital because of the rate of elephant poaching in Tanzania, which has decimated populations by over 75% in just 5 years.
Call on Japan to Ban Ivory Trade By: Trish Sewe WildlifeDirect recently became aware of the scale of laundering of illegal ivory in the ivory markets of Japan through its contact with the Japanese NGO Tears of the African Elephant. We have joined forces with other conservation organizations in Africa and Japan to take the opportunity provided by the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) conference happening here in Nairobi, Kenya to publish a joint appeal to Japan to ban all trade in ivory trade, following the lead [...]
Notorious Kenyan Ivory Trafficker Jailed for 20 Years and Fined USD 200,000 By: Trish Sewe On Friday, a Mombasa law court sentenced Feisal Mohamed Ali to 20 years in jail after finding him guilty of illegal possession of ivory worth 44 million shillings (US $440,000). The court also imposed a fine of 20 million shillings. This landmark ruling by the Kenyan court is the end of a long story that began with the seizure of 2 tonnes of ivory at Fuji Motors car yard in Mombasa in June 2014. Read [...]
Calling the World to help save African Elephants By: Trish Sewe WildlifeDirect supports the African Elephant Coalition (AEC) in the call to the world to help save African elephants. As an organization that has been in the forefront calling for a total ban on all ivory trade, WildlifeDirect urges other African countries not represented at the meeting held in Montreux, Switzerland from 24 to 26 June 2016 to join AEC in this call to save the our iconic species that are in danger of extinction if nothing is done. [...]
Mayes and Mactavish score sensational Safari Rally podium By: Trish Sewe Safari guide and wildlife photographer Geoff Mayes and Scottish born Jamie Mactavish successfully guided their SPV class V8 rally raid car to a top twenty overall position and third in class on the just finished KCB Safari Rally. This years event saw crews face two and a half challenging days in the Great Rift Valley over terrain more suited to a Dakar event than a flat out motor rally. Attrition was high as cars succumbed to rocks, ruts, [...]
Finally, Kenyans can watch their own country’s wildlife on TV By: Jomulupi A ground-breaking series of programmes on Kenyan TV is set to transform public attitudes toward wildlife conservation. Wednesday 3 February 2016 16.24 GMT Africa’s unique wildlife heritage attracts millions of tourists to the continent and contributes enormously to the economy. It is a tragic irony that this wildlife remains unknown to the majority of Africans. Recently I have been involved in an initiative that aims to change this state of affairs. Launched in January, the TV series “NTV [...]
REVIEW MEETING OF THE WILDLIFE & CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT ACT PROPOSED REGULATIONS, NAIROBI By: Jomulupi The objective of this two day meeting was to analyze the proposed Regulations and suggest any necessary amendments to the team of consultants, who drafted these Regulations. Initially the expected number of Regulations was 24 but the consultants reviewed them and came up with 22 Regulations. Major stakeholders who attended the meeting included KWS Board of Trustees and expert staff, Wildlife Direct, ICIPE, National Museums of Kenya, NACOSTI, Ministry of Agriculture, Researchers and representatives from [...]
